Chapter 82: The List of 40 Winners of the Golden Boy Award
Three days after Fino's contract extension, Milan faced Atalanta. In this match, Shevchenko and Borriello started, Inzaghi came on as a substitute in the second half, Fino sat on the bench for the full 90 minutes, and Pato was not even included in the matchday squad.
With a sufficient number of players, Ancelotti has no reason not to rotate them.
Near the end of the match, Borriello crossed from the left side of the penalty area, and Kaká chipped the ball into the net with his left foot, giving Milan a 1-0 away victory and 3 points.
Two days later, Tuttosport announced the 40-man shortlist for the 2008 European Golden Boy award, and Fino was among them.
Arsenal's youthful energy is a major factor in the squad selection, with four players included: Walcott, Bendtner, Ramsey, and Vela. Walcott is considered a strong contender for the award.
Other favorites to win the award include AC Milan's attacking duo Fino and Pato, Anderson who won the double with Manchester United last season, Barcelona's rising star Bojan, and Atletico Madrid's prodigy Aguero, who won the Golden Boy award last year.
When the roster was announced, the most excited person next to Fino was Mendes.
No player represented by Mendes has ever won the Golden Boy award. Among his players, Cristiano Ronaldo was the one who had the best chance of winning the award.
When the first Golden Boy award was awarded in 2003, Cristiano Ronaldo had just left Portugal to join a big club like Manchester United; in 2004, he ran into the in-form Wayne Rooney and finished second; in 2005, Messi's brilliant performance at the World Youth Championship signaled that Ronaldo had completely missed out on the Golden Boy award before he was too old.
To be honest, there's not much to regret. After all, Ronaldo was already old enough to be among the top 20 in the Ballon d'Or voting when he was vying for the Golden Boy award, and compared to the Ballon d'Or, the Golden Boy award isn't considered as prestigious.
But you always miss things you've never had, don't you?
In this year's roster, both Fino and Anderson are players he represents, which can be said to provide double insurance for the Golden Boy award.
Fino is the most likely to win, followed by Anderson.
Fino's meteoric rise last season, not only placing fourth in the Serie A top scorer list, but also his incredible performance in the final Champions League match where he risked injury to equalize for Milan, was truly unforgettable. What does it mean to be beautiful, strong, and tragic? This is it!
Although Anderson's individual performance was not as outstanding as Fino's, he won the double with Manchester United last season, which added to his reputation.
Among the other leading contenders, Aguero already won the Golden Boy award last year, making a repeat win unlikely; Walcott had low attendance last season and his technique is rather limited; Bojan, despite being backed by Barcelona, has a very marginal tactical role, merely a league substitute; Pato performed reasonably well, but his problem is playing alongside Fino, which directly overshadows him…
With his outstanding contributions in the double-winning season, Cristiano Ronaldo has essentially secured the Ballon d'Or this year. If either Fino or Anderson wins the Golden Boy award, his management team will have essentially won both the Ballon d'Or and the Golden Boy award this year.
What an honor! His fame will surely soar, and customers will flock to him.
While Mendes was still in high spirits, Ancelotti was racking his brains over the schedule.
Over the next eight days, Milan will play three matches: a home game against Siena in the ninth round of the league, a home game against Napoli in the tenth round of the league, and a home game against Fenerbahce in the fourth group stage match of the Champions League. After the Fenerbahce game, they will only have three days to rest before their away game against Lecce in the eleventh round of the league.
With such a packed schedule, even the usually composed Ancelotti is feeling the headache. Fortunately, Milan's injury situation is not too serious for the time being, with only Kaladze among the key players facing a long absence.
He was also fortunate that the first three matches, with the shortest intervals, were all at Milan's home ground, sparing the players the hardship of travel.
Of these four matches, it's hard to say which one is more important, because Milan is currently in a good position in both the league and the Champions League, and neither is a life-or-death situation.
Ultimately, he decided to distribute playing time relatively evenly, trying to avoid overusing any player and reduce the risk of injury.
In the home game against Siena, Fino started again, with Inzaghi as his striker partner.
Kaká will play as the attacking midfielder, with Gattuso, Emerson and Seedorf in midfield. There are some changes in the defense, with Bonera and Nesta partnering at center-back, Zambrotta moving to left-back, and Antonini getting a chance at right-back. Abbiati will remain in goal.
As the team lined up to enter the stadium, it started to rain in Milan, and Fino cursed under his breath.
He dislikes playing in the rain. When it rains, the grass at San Siro, which resembles a vegetable patch, becomes even more rotten, making it easy to slip even in cleats with better grip. Once he slips, he immediately gets covered in mud and becomes filthy.
Unfortunately, the weather doesn't cooperate with human will. No matter how unhappy Fino was, the rain continued to fall steadily throughout the entire match.
Siena had possession at the start and launched a quick counter-attack to gain an early lead.
After Cordrea kicked off, he passed the ball to Flick, who turned to avoid Emerson's interception and then passed the ball to another striker, Ghazal, who dribbled the ball toward Milan's half.
After passing the ball, Flick quickly moved forward, preparing to break into the penalty area and receive the ball to shoot. But when he was halfway there, he suddenly realized he didn't need to continue, because Ghazzal had already lost possession.
Ghezzal's dribbling skills are quite good, but he was intercepted by Gattuso. Gattuso's defensive interception is renowned in Serie A, and Ghezzal was somewhat intimidated when facing him, but he was still prepared to take a gamble.
Unfortunately, Gattuso gave him no chance to break through, a clean and decisive tackle shattering Ghazzal's hopes. Siena's counter-attack ended in failure.
Before making his tackle, Gattuso had already spotted Seedorf's position and slid the ball directly towards Seedorf, who immediately launched a counter-attack.
The ball, after being passed through Seedorf, Kaká, and Fino, quickly entered Siena's penalty area, where Inzaghi launched the final strike. Unfortunately, Inzaghi's shot was too rushed, and he didn't adjust the angle well, allowing Siena's goalkeeper Manita to catch the ball.
The fast-paced offense and defense at the start seemed to set the tone for the game. For the next 20 minutes, both sides maintained this fast-paced offensive and defensive transitions, but neither side changed the score.
Ancelotti raised an eyebrow and, taking advantage of a dead ball situation, called Gattuso, who was wearing the captain's armband, to the sidelines.
Ancelotti covered his mouth and whispered in Gattuso's ear, "Slow down the pace of the game a bit. We have a lot of veterans on the field, and if we keep playing fast breaks, their stamina won't keep up. Slow down the pace, wait for Siena's players to relax, and then launch a surprise fast break."
Gattuso nodded and immediately relayed Ancelotti's message to Seedorf and Emerson upon returning to the field.
During the next transition between attack and defense, the three players began passing the ball around in midfield, gradually slowing down the pace of the game.
Through long-term cooperation, Milan's midfield and forward lines had developed a strong understanding. Fino and Kaká immediately understood what Seedorf and his team meant and joined in the passing in midfield, slowly penetrating into Siena's half.
Siena's attacking rhythm was immediately disrupted, which made the players somewhat unaccustomed. However, Milan had possession of the ball at this point, and Siena's players had no choice but to slow down their pace as well.
Siena struggled against Milan's slow, penetrating passing game. Milan's teamwork was too seamless, making it difficult for them to intercept the ball, let alone launch a counter-attack.
Siena's coach immediately signaled for the defense to move forward and participate in the midfield battle, which was exactly what Milan wanted.
After Siena's two defenders left the penalty area, only Portanova remained inside to mark Inzaghi.
Without Ancelotti's prompting, Seedorf directed the attack to pick up the pace.
At this moment, the ball was at Kaká's feet. Instead of passing it around, Kaká made a clean and decisive turn and dribbled past the Siena player in front of him, heading towards Siena's penalty area.
Fino quickly moved forward and waited to receive the pass not far to his left.
This change completely caught the Siena players off guard. By the time they reacted and chased back, it was too late. Kaka had already passed the ball to Fino, who, without hesitation, kicked the ball into the penalty area.
Inzaghi beat the offside trap and delivered the final blow, sending the ball straight into the top right corner of the goal.
In the 36th minute, Milan took a 1-0 lead.
After scoring, Inzaghi sprinted along the sideline, waving wildly to the fans in the stands, signaling for the cheers to be even louder.
The rain did not dampen the fans' enthusiasm; cheers erupted as soon as the goal was scored. As Inzaghi celebrated, the fans clapped and chanted "Super Pippo" rhythmically, the roar of the San Siro echoing through the sky.
Fino grabbed his jersey in front of him and wiped his face, then smoothed his rain-soaked hair back before clapping along with the fans.
After Inzaghi finished celebrating, he gave Inzaghi a high five and then ran towards the center circle.
After successfully changing the pace of their attack, Milan resumed their strategy of slowly passing the ball around in midfield, waiting for Siena's defense to push forward again.
Having learned their lesson, Siena were no longer fooled, and the score remained unchanged at the end of the first half.
In the second half, the two teams switched sides, and Milan took possession of the kickoff.
During halftime, Ancelotti also devised a tactic to seize the initiative, just like Fino had planned against Fenerbahce, only with a different player involved.
After Seedorf kicked off, Kaká broke through with the ball, Inzaghi cut straight into the penalty area to launch the final strike, while Fino and Seedorf followed around Kaká as support and transit points.
Milan scored again this time, but the process was different from Fenerbahce's. Siena's defense was indeed caught off guard, but goalkeeper Manita was very alert and saved Inzaghi's shot, allowing Fino to follow up and score on the rebound.
Milan extended their lead to 2-0.
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